20 Established 1961 Lifestyle Movies Thursday, May 16, 2019 Spanish actor Javier Bardem, left, and French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg pose as they arrive for the screening of the film ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ during the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. — AFP photos US actor Bill Murray From left to right, US film director Jim Jarmusch and his partner Sara Driver, British actress and model Tilda Swinton, US actor Luka Sabbat, US actor Adam Driver, US singer and actress Selena Gomez and US film actress Chloe Sevigny pose as they arrive for the screening of the film ‘The Dead Don’t Die.’ he Cannes film festival opened Tuesday with one of the glitziest line-ups in years as Hollywood Tstars and studios return in strength to the world’s biggest film jamboree. Spanish star Javier Bardem and French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg declared the 12-day marathon open, before sitting down to watch the first movie-”The Dead Don’t Die”-with its small army of A-list stars led by Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton and pop idol Selena Gomez. The cast of the zombie flick send-up of Donald Trump’s America by art house favorite Jim Jarmusch also takes in Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover and music legends Iggy Pop, Tom Waits and Wu-Tang Clan guru RZA. Having watched its Tinseltown thunder stolen in recent years by Venice, which US studios have used as their Oscars launch pad, this time Cannes is putting its much smaller rival back in its place. Quentin Tarantino brings auteur heft and star power to the party with the premiere of his epic “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, a quarter of a century after he lifted the Palme d’Or-Cannes top prize-for “Pulp Fiction”. The panorama of Charles Manson-era Los Angeles stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a television Westerns star and Another headline-grabber, soccer legend Diego Canadian director Monia Brad Pitt as his stunt double. Margot Robbie also Maradona, is sure to create a stir when he turns up for a Chokri, right, and Canadian appears as actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered by documentary on his rollercoaster career by the maker of actress Anne-Elizabeth the cult leader’s followers. the Oscar-winning “Amy”. The festival has sparked con- troversy by giving a prize to veteran French star Alain Rambo V and Rocketman Delon, with the Women and Hollywood group saying Almost as big a coup was persuading Elton John to honoring a man who has admitted to hitting women Lebanese director and President of the Un US actress and member of the jury of the launch his warts-and-all musical biopic “Rocketman” on “sucks”. Certain Regard Jury Nadine Labaki Cannes Film Festival Elle Fanning the Croisette out of competition; with festival director Tempers also flared after French taxi drivers protest- Thierry Fremaux hinting that the singer will perform on ing about online ride-hailing rivals blocked traffic at his grand piano at the premiere. The screening today is nearby Nice airport, holding up movie movers and shak- the first big blockbuster event at the festival, where ers trying to reach Cannes. Mexican director Alejandro Sylvester Stallone will also unveil a teaser for “Rambo V: Gonzalez Inarritu, who heads the jury that will pick the Last Blood”. Palme d’Or winner, also struck a political note Tuesday by condemning populist leaders like Trump, but without naming names. “The world is melting and these guys are ruling with rage and anger and lies and making people believe that they are facts,” he told reporters. “This (is a) dangerous thing we are returning to, to 1939,” he added, referring to World War II. “We know how this story ends if we keep with this rhetoric.” Analysts, meanwhile, were upbeat about this year’s offerings. The Oscars? Who cares? “That Cannes has managed to get ‘Rocketman’ is a very big coup because Paramount was historically one of the studios who were the most reluctant to show films at the festival,” said Christian Jungen, author of the book “Hollywood in Cannes”. Studios have often been reluc- tant to risk their big-budget productions, fearful of a sav- aging from critics. Cannes got “Rocketman” thanks to US actress Julianne Moore, Fremaux’s friendship with Paramount boss Jim right, and the Co-President of Gianopulos, Jungen said, who was head of Fox when it Chopard Caroline Scheufele took “Moulin Rouge” to the Croisette in 2001. It’s precious breathing space for the festival, which is stuck in a stand-off with Netflix over the streaming giant’s refusal to release its films in French cinemas. Yet Netflix has far from turned its back on Cannes. Jerome Paillard, the head of the festival’s vast market, where deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars are done, said it has sent a team of around 25 buyers and executives. Chinese actress That is even bigger than it was last year, he told AFP. Gong Li “More than ever the whole world comes to Cannes, particularly the Americans. They are still the biggest group overall, and their numbers remain stable,” Paillard added. Even so, the last big Cannes Oscar success was the comedy “The Artist” in 2012, which won five gongs after being premiered on the Croisette. Fremaux-who had only two US films in the main competition last year- claimed that Cannes is above “this general obsession about the Oscars”. The festival, which calls itself the “Olympics of film”, is “about world cinema”, he said, and giving a platform to new voices and auteurs.—AFP British-Thai actress Araya Hargate.